I'm sure everyone's seen such questions where an answer that's accepted as the correct answer has only 1 upvote while another answer with 7 upvotes is down below. Even worse is when the accepted answer is too long pushing the better answer even further down from the view. And the OP was last seen Dec 4 '12 so no hopes from him to change his accepted answer.

Should I flag the question and the mods will change the accepted answer? (I'm thinking not likely but not completely sure, hence asking)

It leaves me no choice but to downvote the accepted answer even though it's "illegal" and/or it makes no difference. (other than maybe the next time I come across it I'll immediately remember why I downvoted it)

No. Downvote an answer on its own (lack of) merit, not by comparison to other answers.
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Ant PAug 5 '14 at 11:27

17

Since when is it '"illegal"' to down-vote an accepted (or any other) answer? If it's wrong, useless or otherwise not a good answer (in your opinion) then down-vote it. Also, as noted, up-vote the good answer(s).
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David ThomasAug 5 '14 at 20:33

Can we finally make it so that the accepted answer is no longer pinned to the top of every question automatically?
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CupcakeAug 5 '14 at 21:28

3

@Cupcake I agree. The site is supposed to preserve the Q&A for future generations, so why shouldn't the bias be given to the highest voted question? This would reflect the worth attributed by many users, who may have different agendas to the OP. If there is a tie, with another question, then perhaps the accepted answer could rank higher.
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DeanOCAug 6 '14 at 3:06

1

The question whether you should downvote seems to have been adequately answered. However, you should in such a case consider to add a bounty to help the better answer float to the top.
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Dennis JaheruddinAug 6 '14 at 8:20

2

Hopefully people vote up a question based on how it helped them. Therefore whilst the accepted answer may have helped the OP other visitors may find other comments more useful. As others say, vote up the answer you like. I only vote something down when it is obviously unhelpful or incoherent (which amounts to the same thing)
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Daniel HollinrakeAug 6 '14 at 8:57

@Cupcake, moving, or just randomly placing, accepted answers, at least in theory, does just as much bad as good on average (based on what I've seen of course). Because any answer which leads op in the right direction is valid, posts (pretty commonly) in the c++ tag, for example, that suggest usage of vectors, or similar STL greatness, when op declares it a restriction would float to the top even though it breaks specifically from the post. This, naturally, has the defect of localization of the post, I'll admit.
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Chief Two PencilsAug 6 '14 at 9:27

Why not reading all of the answers and deciding from yourself which one you need, independently of whether it was accepted?
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nicoAug 8 '14 at 7:09

In addition to this, accepted answers can't get buried. They get pinned to the top regardless of the score, so downvoting just to keep it from pushing down other posts would be pointless.
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psubsee2003Aug 5 '14 at 11:32

@psubsee2003: You're right. No matter how the answers are sorted, the accepted answer will always be on top, indeed.
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CerbrusAug 5 '14 at 11:36

10

Unless it's a self answered question. If the asker accepts their own answer it doesn't get pinned to the top.
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JonKAug 5 '14 at 11:52

@psubsee2003 downvoting just to keep it from pushing down other posts would be pointless It's won't be effective in letting another answer be the top answer, but it does signal to other users that it might not be as good as its acceptance might suggest. I'm not necessarily recommending downvoting, but it's not necessarily completely pointless.
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Joshua TaylorAug 5 '14 at 20:26

@JoshuaTaylor apples and oranges.... I am talking about exactly what the OP wanted to do... downvote to keep an accepted an answer from burying a better answer. You can't bury accepted answers (except for self answers). Downvoting to say "this answer is not good" is a completely justified and appropriate use of downvoting. But it still doesn't "bury the answer".
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psubsee2003Aug 5 '14 at 20:59

@psubsee2003 Not really, but if an answer has a negative score, it will probably make the reader have second thoughts about it, even when it was accepted. So once it has more downvotes than upvotes, I think it becomes effective. Still, I agree with Cerbrus that you should downvote only when the answer is actually incorrect, and not because it is less correct or less elaborate than another answer.
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GolezTrolAug 6 '14 at 8:45

2

Just because there is a "better" answer does not mean that the accepted answer is wrong. It solved the users' problem so it still has merit. On the other hand if a secondary answer is in fact more thorough/better documented/whatever, it could be formatted in a helpful way as to present itself boldly as a viable alternative for other readers. I have seen that done before, and I have always gone for the answer that is more solid, regardless if it were accepted or not.
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GraphoAug 6 '14 at 21:55

1

@Grapho The problem is that the OP is, by definition, the last person to know which is the best answer. He doesn't know the answer at all. Anything that helps him looks good, even if it's intrinsically a bad idea.
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EJPAug 8 '14 at 1:11

@EJP: but maybe in the specific case of the OP the accepted answer is the best answer. Maybe he wants a quick-and-dirty hack and not a convoluted answer that is more "safe". And maybe people should learn to scroll down, where the super-awesome answer will be waiting for them, just below the accepted one (if you're sorting by votes).
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nicoAug 8 '14 at 7:08

Would the answer in question get in the way of finding the answer? Are you willing to burn a magical unicorn point to indicate to others that it gets in the way?

If so, you can downvote.

After all, you can downvote for whatever reason you want. And people finding the question will judge the top answer not only by the fact it is on top, but by the total votes next to it.

You should probably comment on the accepted answer telling the poster what went wrong with it and how to improve it. Avoid directly linking to the other answer -- simply point out where this answer is wrong.

Do not, however, flag it for moderators. That would waste their time.

Note that accepted answers, unless they are self-answers, are always pinned to the top. So downvoting will simply change the number next to it (indicating what the community thought of the answer), and impact the answerer's reputation and score on the subject area. It will not help another answer "pass" it.

The accepted answer was accepted because it solved the OP's problem. That is presumably why they accepted it.

If the content in the answer solves the problem and is not problematic in some way there is really no good reason to downvote it. If it is incorrect, contains a possible dangerous approach (such as a security concern), flat out doesn't work, etc. then by all means down vote - but I don't think that was what you were asking.

Just downvoting it because there is another answer which was better is not really helpful to anyone.

If anything, upvote the other answer that you prefer, and leave a comment on the accepted answer indicating your concerns with it versus the other answer.